habits it resembles the plant in cultivation about Canton, commonly called Thea bohea. Epunga, to which I was bound while making these observations, was reached in due course. I found the proprietor had a nice little private garden, and also a nursery in which he propagated and cultivated plants for sale. On the premises there was a building, apparently for the use of foreigners, which was only opened when any foreigner came out from Nagasaki for a day's pleasure. Like many other places of the kind, its walls were defaced with the writing of the great men who had visited it, and who took this means of immortalising themselves. Doggrel lines, some of them scarcely fit to meet the eye, were observed in many places written in Dutch, German, or Russian. Our own countrymen had not been there long enough to visit the place and leave their marks; doubtless these will be found also in good time. The nursery garden at Epunga was found to contain a large collection of Japanese plantssome of which were new to me-and others of great rarity and interest. Several species were purchased for my collection, and duly brought in to the town the next day. Having finished my examination of the nursery, I started, in company with some other gentlemen, on an expedition to the top of a hill some 1500 feet above the level of the sea, and celebrated for the fine and extensive view to be obtained from its summit. It was a glorious autumnal day, such a day as one rarely sees in our own changeable climate. The sky was cloudless, so that when we reached the top our view on all sides was bounded only by the horizon. Looking to the south-east, far below us we saw the town of Nagasaki, with the beautiful bay in its front. On its smooth waters were the ships of several nations at anchor, besides a number of boats and junks of native build, and rather picturesque in their way. Turning round and looking to the north-west, the eye rested on many hundreds of little hills having a conical form, and covered to their summits with trees and brushwood. Behind them were mountains, apparently 2000 or 3000 feet in height, and a deep bay looking like an inland sea. Amongst the hills there were many beautiful and fertile valleys, now yellow with the ripening rice crops; and numerous villages and farmhouses gave life to the scene, which was one of extraordinary beauty and interest. On our way home we visited a little garden belonging to an interpreter to the Japanese Government. Here again I noticed some azaleas remarkable for their great size, and an extraordinary specimen of a dwarfed fir-tree. Its lower branches were trained horizontally some twenty feet in length; all the leaves and branchlets were tied down and clipped, so that the whole was as flat as a board. The upper branches were trained to form circles one above another like so many little tables, and the whole plant had a most. curious appearance. A man was at work upon it at the time, and I believe it keeps him constantly employed every day throughout the year! Since the opening of the port of Nagasaki to other nations besides the Chinese and Dutch, its trade has been greatly enlarged. The harbour is now gay with the ships of all nations, and a brisk trade has sprung up between Japan and Chinaa trade which the quiet old Dutchmen never seemed to have dreamed of. Large quantities of seaweed, salt fish, and sundry other articles are exported to China; while the Chinese import medicine of various kinds, Sapan wood, and many other kinds of dyes. The exports to Europe are chiefly tea, vegetable wax (the produce of the Rhus already noticed), and copper, which is found in large quantities in the Japanese islands. At present there is little demand for our English manufactures, but that may spring up in time. Although Nagasaki may never become a place of very great importance as regards trade, it will no doubt prove one of the most healthy stations in the East; and may one day become most valuable as a sanatarium for our troops in that quarter of the globe. CHAPTER II. We leave Nagasaki - Van Dieman's Strait Gale of wind-Vries's Island - View of Fusi-yama Bay of Yedo - Yokuhama — Its value as a port for trade Foreign houses Native town Mena Shops Bronzes, ivory carvings, and curiosities - Lacquer ware formation. LEAVING Nagasaki and its beautiful scenery at daylight on the 19th of October, we proceeded on our voyage to the port of Kanagawa, near Yedo, the capital of Japan, and distant from Nagasaki about 700 miles. When outside the harbour of Nagasaki the mariner has two courses open to him he may either go northward, and pass through the inland sea which divides the islands of Nipon and Kiu-siu, or he may take a southerly course and go through Van Dieman's Strait, and thus out into the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Sailing vessels generally choose the latter, as being the safer and more expeditious way of reaching their destination, and this was the Marmora's' course in the present instance. Luckily we had a fair wind all the way from Nagasaki until we got through the strait. Near the entrance to the strait there are some small islands known to mariners as the "Retribution Rocks." They are only a few feet above the water, and are rather dangerous neighbours in a dark night, or during those heavy gales for which this coast is so unfavourably known. On our left we observed the mainland of Kiu-siu, stretching far away to the eastward, and ending in a Cape named "Cape Chichakoff." A high conical-shaped mountain named "Horner Peak," 2345 feet in height, and not unlike Fusi-yama in miniature, was also passed on our left. It forms an excellent landmark to the navigator of these seas. Between "Horner Peak" and the Cape there is a deep bay jutting inland for 30 or 40 miles, and having at its head an important city named Kagosima, where the Prince of Satsuma has his head-quarters. On the south side of the strait we observed several large islands, one of which is named Iwo-sima, or Sulphur Island. This is an active volcano, and smoke and flames are continually rising, not from its summit in the usual way, but from many parts of its sides. The whole mountain seems on fire, and has a very curious appearance when seen during the night. The coast of Japan is remarkable for the suddenness with which gales of wind come on, and we were now destined to have our turn. It was a beautiful evening when we were nearly abreast of Cape Chichakoff; we had a light fair wind, and our little bark was gliding along at the rate of six or seven miles an hour. We were congratu |